How Much Online Storage does Your Small Business Need?

September 20, 2013

In today’s world, data has become the lifeblood of business. Even the smallest company stores hundreds of gigabytes of documents, databases, emails, financial records and more. Storing information is one thing, however any smart business administrator would know that having a backup copy of important data is essential. Data can be lost or damaged as a result of hardware failure, malicious attacks by hackers, infections by computer viruses and even physical damage to a company’s facilities caused by fire, crime, or natural disasters. This makes implementing an efficient backup solution essential in your company.

Your Options for Data Storage

There are a few methods that you can use to store a backup copy of your important data. You can use physical storage devices, such as external hard drives, DVDs and USB flash drives. However, online data storage offers you numerous benefits over storing your information on a physical support. Your most important files and documents can be uploaded to a remote location and stored securely there. Sending and retrieving the files can be done with any computer that has access to the Internet.

Online storage offers a few advantages over physical media. It isn’t prone to damage, theft of loss. Remember that if you store your data backups on external hard drives and keep these in your own office, the data might be destroyed or inaccessible if the building housing your office is damaged. Online storage solutions aren’t used only for backup purposes. You can also use them to securely share data with business partners and clients over the Internet. Online storage solutions can also be used by your employees to retrieve business documents if they are working at a remote location.

How Much Storage Will You Need?

As online storage providers offer plans that have different amounts of storage space, you will need to determine how much online storage your business needs. First, consider which files you will be sharing online or backing up. When doing backups, you can include only the files that are essential to the operation of your business (customer databases, documents related to ongoing projects, etc) or that you must keep for regulatory compliance purposes (communications with customers, invoices, financial records, etc.) You can exclude any files that you are unlikely to ever use, such as promotional videos for a campaign that ended 10 years age, or documents related to a project that never got off the ground.

Then, calculate how much space all of these files take and choose a storage plan that can accommodate them, plus leaves a bit of room for future growth. Remember that many storage service providers will be happy to let you upgrade to a plan with more space should your needs change in the future.